Real Time Information (RTI)

Real Time Information is the biggest-ever change to PAYE. A new & improved way of reporting, it's designed to make PAYE submissions more efficient meaning you'll need to submit information to HMRC in real time, every time you pay your employees.

What is RTI?

RTI doesn't change the way you calculate PAYE, it just means you'll need to make more regular submissions. Each time you pay your employees you'll need to submit PAYE information to HMRC, rather than just once a year at Payroll Year End.

Following concerns over the impact of RTI on small businesses rules of reporting were relaxed but from October this year those relaxed rules will be lifted and small businesses will need to start reporting each time they pay their employees not just monthly.

It’s important that small business act now to make sure they’re ready for reporting RTI fully and accurately to avoid the risk of a fine and any penalties.

What do I need to do to submit to HMRC?

You'll continue to...

Provide P60's

Submit P9D, P11D & P11D(b) forms

You'll no longer...

Submit P14 forms

Submit P35 forms

Submit P38A returns for casual employees

Submit P45s to HMRC

You’ll still need to process PAYE in the same way but you’ll need to submit the payroll information to HMRC on or before the day you pay each of your employees.

You’ll need to do this using a Full Payment Submission (FPS). If you have payroll software it will generate the required reports and submit your payroll information online to HMRC.

If you don’t need to pay any of your employees in a particular tax month, you’ll therefore have no FPS to send to HMRC so you must notify them by sending an Employer Payment Summary (EPS) by the 19th of the following tax month. This will make sure HMRC don't wrongly send you a penalty because they were expecting an FPS from you.

What happens if I don't submit to HMRC?

HMRC will penalise you if you are not submitting your Full Payment Submission or Employer Payment Summary on time. They’ll also penalise you if your payments are late.

To help you steer clear of fines and penalties read our useful blog posts:

No matter how you manage your payroll, you need to be ready

Outsourcing?

If you're outsourcing your payroll you need to be mindful that submitting RTI is still your responsibility. Ask your provider how they're complying with RTI and if it means any changes for your business.

Managing in-house?

Ask your software provider if they're RTI-ready. It's essential you make sure you're using software that's legally compliant, and that you have the support you need to submit your PAYE in real time.

Using HMRC?

HMRC's free online submissions portal won't be RTI-ready, so if you run your own payroll you'll need RTI-ready payroll software to submit PAYE to HMRC.

If you're using HMRC's desktop tool, we've made it really easy for you to switch to Sage One and transfer your data in just 5 minutes.